Severe Pulmonary Stenosis in a Newborn with Antenatal Exposure to Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor Drug: A Case Report

Abstract

Depression in pregnancy is being recognized as a major contributor to adverse maternal and fetal outcomes. Recent years have seen significant research focused on the development of safe pharmacological methods to treat depression in pregnancy, resulting in the common use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) as a first line of treatment. There have been a few reports of congenital birth defects associated with the consumption of SSRIs during pregnancy, particularly congenital heart defects. Several studies have attempted to evaluate the relationship between SSRI use and congenital heart defects in neonates, but they were inconclusive. In this report, a case where maternal SSRI intake during two consecutive pregnancies was associated with neonatal pulmonary valve stenosis, raising the possibility of a correlation between the usage of a certain SSRI, and a particular congenital heart defect has been described. Keywords: Congenital heart defects, Depression, Pregnancy, Pulmonary valve stenosis, Serotonin uptake inhibitors